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1996 Inductees

Alphus LeFevre

By January 1, 2018May 5th, 2021No Comments

Inducted 1996

ALPHUS LeFEVRE

(1912 – 1988)

Alphus LeFevre was a founding member, the lead musician/arranger and tenor voice, of the legendary Southern Gospel group The LeFevres.

Alphus LeFevre circa 1965

Alphus LeFevre was an original member of the LeFevre Trio and the musical innovator of the long-enduring family group The LeFevres. Alphus began singing with his older brother Urias and older sister Maude as a young boy growing up in Smithville, Tennessee. The young LeFevre threesome, with Alphus playing guitar, fiddle and singing tenor, were performing publicly as early as the 1920s. The group’s personnel changed and expanded beyond a trio through the years so their name changed to “The LeFevres.” The family group would go on to influence Southern Gospel music for decades and throughout most of that time Alphus was the high tenor voice and the group’s musical mastermind. The LeFevres were immensely successful through radio, television and live performances from the 1940s up through the 1970s.

In 1921 Alphus was discovered after winning a fiddle championship when just nine years old. After seeing him win the competition, the owner of the local general store had the LeFevre siblings play all day on the front porch of the store for payment of cheese and crackers.

In 1929, while attending college with Urias at The Bible Training School of the Church of God (later Lee University), Alphus and Urias embarked on their first serious involvement as gospel music performers as members of the Bible Training School Quartet. “The Bible Training School Quartet was very smooth,” Alphus said years later. “We had teamwork down to perfection, and could sing acapella or do counterpoint.”

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